The Netherlands Council of Minsters has approved the text of new gaming regulations that would tax online operators at a lower rate than their land-based competitors, and not everyone is happy about that.
The OF Slots Industry Organization, a trade association representing machine gaming parlors, plans to present a petition signed by its members to State Secretary of Justice Fred Teeven protesting the bill, whose dual tax rate will create an “uneven playing field,” they say, and will cost the country “hundreds of jobs”.
The bill proposes a 20 percent on online gaming revenue but leaves the current land-based unchanged at 29 percent, a discrepancy that is also being challenged in the House of Representatives, which issued a statement last week questioning it.
The favorable online rate is designed to attract operators into the market, which will be opened to private competition for the first time, and hopefully boost tax revenues, which have taken a hit from steadily falling revenues at state-owned Holland Casino, a monopoly that is also being dismantled.
Despite the objections, the gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit, is encouraging Dutch and international online operators to “pre-apply” for licenses by December 1 in order to “get to know” the market.
